Antenna misalignment can cause a radar target on the starboard bow to appear where?

• A. Visually dead ahead or to port
• B. Behind the stern
• C. On the starboard bow is observed visually dead ahead or to port
• D. At the nadir

Answer: (C)

Antenna misalignment effectively rotates the radar’s bearing reference. When the antenna isn’t lined up with the ship’s forward axis, every bearing shown on the display is offset by that misalignment angle. A target that is actually on the starboard bow (front-right) can then appear with a bearing that looks like dead ahead (directly in front) or even to the port (left side) on the radar screen. The nadir (directly below) isn’t a bearing on the horizontal radar display, and a large shift to the stern would require a much bigger offset. So the most plausible visual outcome of misalignment for a starboard-bow target is it appearing dead ahead or to port.